Well no one can say that 2016 wasn’t an eventful year! Not all great events to say the least, but eventful nonetheless! I’m not going to go over the highs and lows – if you don’t know, you’ll soon get to know about some of them as a lot of the events have far reaching repercussions that will be felt well into the New Year and beyond.

The past 7 days have been a doozy for deaths, especially of celebrities. It just goes to prove as I said a few weeks ago, that it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have; when your time’s up, your time’s up! Yet despite knowing we only have a limited time here that could be cut short at any moment, some people still choose to waste time – which is fine and their prerogative – but don’t attempt to waste mine.

They say everything happens for a reason and there’s a blessing in every lesson. The older I’ve become, the more I believe that it’s true. Some life experiences have the knack of waking you up to reality. Some of us acknowledge this and grow and change; some remain the same. For the growers and changers we understand that not everybody will get it and wonder why we’re not playing the game anymore. Why we don’t respond or rise to certain situations. It’s because we know there’s more to life than fuckery and no matter who they are; friend, family or foe, there’s nothing more important than doing you first.

I don’t know how much time I have left on this Earth but I do know I still have 3 and a half years before the cloud over my head is officially lifted. I try not to think about it too much and let the sun shine through, but was recently reminded that too much stress is fuel for cancer and my body is throwing out warning signs. Some of the stress cannot be avoided but others can and I have made the conscious decision to eliminate unnecessary stress causing shit from my life. Signs are everywhere trust me, we just have to be awake enough to see them and heed them.

I’m not expecting 2017 to bring miracles (as much as I may wish it!) but it will undoubtedly bring change. I have been blessed with some amazing people in my life, most importantly the man who has given me the most – my beautiful (though sometimes challenging!) daughters and 100% unconditional love. I honestly can’t wait to wear my official Queen Wifey crown and live our life. It’ll be stressful no doubt, but it’s the type I can handle. This kind of stress ends with better days and beautiful memories – I can work with that!

A humongous thank you to one and all who’ve taken the time out to read my blogs. I know time is precious and I’m grateful for the minutes you give up and your support. I wish you all good health, wealth, blessings and happiness in 2017. It will get bumpy at times but remember the lows are there so we truly can appreciate the highs. Try to find a positive in every day – even if it’s just that you woke up this morning!

To 2016 I say, Bye Felicia! You’ve been tripping on all kinds of levels and I’ve received your lessons but you’ve overstayed your welcome. Thank you very much for your services but could you now, ever so politely, fuck off! #JustSaying

 

R.I.P to all those who have lost their lives this week and year. I pray you are resting in peace.

2017, BRING IT COME!!!

Happy New Year, Stay Blessed & #CelebrateLife

No long thing this week. In fact, I was seriously considering just copying and pasting last weeks post. Berlin alone proves humanity still needs a wake up call!

This time of year is supposed to be about peace and goodwill to all wo/mankind, but why do we leave it until a certain time of year to show it? Why is it a seasonal thing?

Shouldn’t it be in effect 24/7? I know it’s not an easy task, some folk are just hard to love for a whole number of reasons, yet still I’ll try, but if I’ve given them a fair chance (#ThreeStrikes) and they keep disappointing, I figure I’ve been fair enough and I’m honestly not about wasting my precious time on the non deserving. My next challenge to myself will be to bring that peace and goodwill vibe all year round and I’m hoping it catches on, you know, like the mannequin challenge, only instead of standing still we start paying it forward. Even if it’s with just a smile to the haters, testers and triers! (Can that be classed as goodwill, ’cause that’s all I’ve got to offer them!?!)

This week I challenged myself to try and do a little extra good each day, no matter how small. So far it’s ranged from dropping change in a charity box to posting a Christmas card to Bradley Lowery, a little boy who is dying of cancer, has 2 months to live and his last wish is to receive thousands and thousands of cards. How sweet and yet heartbreakingly sad is that? It’s amazing how something so small, the tiniest of gestures, can mean the world to someone else. I truly hope he gets his wish.

No matter who we are or what religion we choose to follow or not, we all have it in us to do a bit of good no matter how insignificant it may seem. Today I will be dropping off some tinned goods to an address I will post below to help Slough 4 Syria send urgent humanitarian supplies to those poor people. Again, I know it doesn’t seem much, but I’ll feel good when I’m sat in warmth and comfort today, Christmas Day or any day, knowing that my tin of chickpeas or packet of pasta may have provided sustenance for someone in dire straits and the other little things I have done, and will do, might just help make a difference.

Show a little more love people – we’re all gonna need it real soon, especially people of colour! Whatever shade we may be we need to pull together. For those of you wishing to add a donation to Slough 4 Syria the drop off location is:

 

Masjid Al Jannah

Stoke Road

Slough

Berkshire

SL2 5AH
23rd December 2pm-6pm

24th December 10am-5pm

25th December 10am-3pm

 

R.I.P to the Berlin 12 and all those who have lost their lives this week

Share The Love, Stay Blessed and #CelebrateLife

…..Exhale! There’s been a lot of inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth, counting to ten and woosah’s this week! REAL TALK! You know when you’re trying your damnedest to stay positive and appreciate the good around you but with every turn there’s something or someone testing your patience?….it was that time for a while! Again!

I am by no means perfect and I don’t believe that any human being is 100% perfection. I’m not talking about aesthetics but the person as a whole. We all have our flaws, however many, major or minor, there may be. Some of us are more aware of them and try to work on them, others either don’t see them (which happens a lot!) or just couldn’t give a shit. It’s all part and parcel of being a human being. We were placed on this earth knowing the only thing we have in common, without a doubt, is that we all have a certain amount of time here before we die never to return…well…at least not as the same person. We all breathe the same air and see the same sun, moon and stars. We all bleed the same and we’re supposedly the most intelligent species on the planet…hmmm…about that!

I spoke about the subject of humanity in my previous blog Forgive Them Father, a few months back. Since that time there’s been a few things I can look back upon that make me smile and appreciate how great life can be, and even though I know there are good and bad people I’m still struggling to understand and accept all the bad bits.

I have a higher respect for life since 2014. I think it’s a part of being in the Survivors Club. You don’t take time for granted and know that it doesn’t matter if you’re as rich as Crassus or as poor as a church mouse, as black as night or as white as snow, young or old and any other opposites you can form – there’s no discrimination in death. You understand the reality of it and the beauty of life and it’s partly why the past couple of weeks have had me feeling like Leeloo in The Fifth Element. There’s a line where she says, “Everything you create, you use to destroy.” And Korben says, “Yeah, we call it human nature.” Film or not, how on point they were!

After nearly six years of conflict the people of Aleppo are finally catching a break and being allowed to leave in relative peace. I say relative as some were still subjected to gunfire and who really knows how long the peace will last? I’m just relieved that after witnessing the horrors those poor people went through, especially the children, they have been given a reprieve, and hope and pray the peace is maintained, but knowing how us humans can be, I hate to be a pessimist but I can’t see it; and it blows! Am I the only one that’s fed up with the way the world is run? I almost wish a higher power would come down and fix the mess that they created!

You may think I’m joking but I’m deadly serious! Don’t get it me wrong I’m not saying I’m praying for the end of days, death and damnation scenario. I’d much prefer a time out on the naughty step kinda thing but hey, it’s not my call. But before they  carry out whatever form of punishment they deem fit, I’d like them to press the pause button on everyone and explain that when they put us here it was with more than enough space and more than enough resources for us to get along. The rest wasn’t in their master plan; they thought that given time we’d figure it out.

They didn’t expect us to turn on each other but embrace and admire the differences between us. They didn’t expect a country to spend millions of dollars on jewels on a Christmas tree whilst millions of people are starving, poverty stricken, sick and dying. That wasn’t the whole point of the story despite what baby Jesus was given. They didn’t expect people to be bombed out of their homes, or used and abused, or tortured and destroyed by something as petty as skin colour or who they choose to love. We didn’t understand that we should respect each other and nature and not the materialistic things we hold the most value in.

Nature is the one gift we were all given to share, (granted some things you could have kept to yourself!🕷), and in our death it continues to survive, yet we’re happy to kill off the planet and not utilise natures remedies to its full potential to fatten our pockets whilst our fellow brethren are dying. “Saving” the planet by recycling whilst allowing the manufacturers to continue producing plastic packaging for us to use that destroys the wildlife yet fining us for not recycling correctly – (yep, it all matters!)

Honestly, when the time comes and they spell it out to us we’ll be kicking ourselves! The conclusion will be, ‘We had it easy – we made it hard!’  #RealTalk.

The world is actually big enough for us all to live in peace. I’m not saying we have to like each other, but there’s enough space for us to live together without the need of hurt and bloodshed. Seriously, what have we become? Brother Marvin, we’re still asking what’s going on! Until the day I’m blessed or cursed with the answer I’ll continue to try to be the best human being I can be. I would love to be able to solve all the worlds problems but I’m not quite there yet!

Wherever possible I will always do my bit to help a cause or support a friend, even if it is just with words, but ultimately I have to do me before I can do you. That may mean that you haven’t been at the forefront of my mind but not that I’ve forgotten you completely. I may well have had bigger and more important issues that I have to deal with that are priority, and if it upsets you that I be so bold to tell you so and set you straight (all said with love), quite frankly, that’s your business. We all have our crosses to bear – trust me I GET IT, but the world doesn’t stop because of it.

Respect the fact it’s not all about you sometimes and ask yourself how much attention you’ve paid to the friendship. This week I’ve had a couple of situations that really got to me for a hot minute but then I had to stop and put myself back in check. I’ve fucked off friend and family alike but oh well. If they’re true they’ll sit back and assess where I was coming from and hopefully understand, if not, whatever. You’ll reach a point in your life when you will be comfortable with this decision – no matter what they bring to the table. It’s the point you reach when you know you’re doing or have done right for you and others. Once you’ve experienced it you’ll be more at peace in the long run.

Thankfully that’s the thing about humanity and humankind – for every person that darkens your day there’s another that can shed new love and light. Hold on to those ones. Shade’s only good for so long.

R.I.P to those we’ve lost, and love and blessings to all.

 

Inhale The Good Shit, Exhale The Bullshit!, Stay Blessed & #CelebrateLife

Well it’s been another corker of a week! Plane crashes, earthquakes, fires, floods, climate change, giraffe extinction, Nigel Farage nominated for Person Of The Year and Donald Trump winning the position! You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s not only the end of the year, but the end of the world!

I read somewhere that a Christian computer programmer has predicted that Jesus will return at the end of the month to take the chosen few to Heaven whilst the planet is left sterile for 1000 years of rest. I’m presuming the figures have been double and triple checked after the millennium hiccup….though 16 years grace ain’t too bad!

I don’t really want to mock her, her beliefs are what they are, but I can’t understand why someone would spend their time calculating when they think they’re going to die or be delivered into the light. What a fun way to spend your life…not!

I know we’ve all got to die one day but I’m not going to spend my time waiting on it; there’s way too much to explore and do in between. I hope she’s at least seeing it out with a bang!, though not too much of a bang – wouldn’t wanna be put on the naughty list at the last minute! A sterile Earth or the flames of Hell? #DecisionsDecisions

Seriously, I’d much rather spend my days (however many more there may be), living! I’m not even aiming for the high life, just a good life will suffice! I’m not going to lie and say a little (or large) cash injection wouldn’t be appreciated at any given time, but it would be used wisely…well that is to say what I call wisely. I’m afraid I fail to see the wisdom in a pair of £500 shoes that cripple your feet but that could be because I’m sippin’ on tea and not Cristal.

Despite all the fuckeries happening in the world of late there’s so much to live for. If we could just figure out how to solve the unity issue it’d be an even better place to be living in. A great starting point is talking and listening. A lot of problems would be solved if people opened up and talked more and others took the time to hear. As I mentioned last week, I’m as open with my daughters as I possibly can be and will discuss anything with them – ANYTHING!

Obviously when they were younger it was age appropriate but I would never fob them off or be too embarrassed to talk about whatever they wanted to or whatever I felt they needed to hear. As well as feeding and clothing them we, as parents, have a responsibility to try our best to raise them right as they will eventually have to roam this big, bad world without us one day so I’d like them as wised up as possible in every aspect.

This brings me on to two other subjects in the news this week that are related to the above. The men speaking out after decades of silence about the abuse by their football coaches and the MP, Michelle Thomson on her rape at 14, 37 years ago. I can only imagine how they have felt throughout the years and it’s truly sickening and upsetting that they’ve had to live with it on their own for so long.

Listening to their accounts of how they felt ashamed and alone is a prime example as to why I talk to my girls and would persuade you to do the same with your sons and daughters if you’re not doing so already. Let them know they can come to you and you’ve always got their back no matter what anybody says. If they’re too embarrassed to talk to you let them know they’ve got options, just make sure they are talking to someone. And let’s not get it twisted – THERE ARE PARENTS THAT ABUSE THEIR KIDS! PERVERTS KNOW NO BOUNDS!

I’ve read one too many stories about women who allow this shit because of disbelief or a blind eye and it makes my stomach churn and my blood boil. I’m sure there are some children that lie about such things for whatever reason, but they are children and we as adults have to step up and find out the truth; the days of being seen and not heard are over.

I’m hoping that it would never arise (EVER!) but hypothetically speaking, if one of mine had come to me with such talk I’m on some next level Miss Marple/CSI/Law And Order/SVU shizzle. I would be relentless trust me, and God help the perpetrator! Some things are worth doing time for!

My advice goes to adults and children alike. Don’t be scared to open up. Life is better spent enjoying it than suffering in silence. Should things go according to (Ig)Nora Roth’s calculations, we’ve only got 3 more Fridays left to enjoy. It may not be the case but it should stand as a reminder to make the days count and to make time and take time to talk. A few minutes of listening can have a bigger impact than you’d imagine.

We only get one stab at this! I will be doing what we were born to do as well as I possibly can safe in the knowledge that despite what is thrown at my daughters they know they are never alone.

 

R.I.P to all those who have lost their lives this week.

It’s Good To Talk, Stay Blessed & #CelebrateLife

⚠️Parents you may want to hide this blog from your children’s eyes! There’s some real talk in here they may not be ready for yet or able to handle and I won’t be held responsible for mashing up your Christmas!

So we’re in December now and it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I’ve mentioned previously I choose not to follow any one religion and basically crack on and live my life in peace and harmony, with a little fire when necessary and a big dose of reality – so before you mutter hypocrite under your breath I’ll save you the trouble and fully admit it! I do Christmas!

I know it’s having my cake and eating it too but what’s the point in having cake if you can’t eat it? Before you write me off completely hear me out first. It’s not about the religious aspect or the spending of vast amounts of cash. It is not the big, elaborate, gross over indulgence that is the norm for most.

I have my tree and a couple decorations, a nice little munch, gifts I can afford to give and some true, loving, quality family time. No, I don’t count how many days before Christmas the tree goes up and no it’s not up yet, but I can tell you it will be down and out of sight before the 1st January – as standard!! That’s not so bad is it? I know it’s missing the whole “true meaning” but considering that it’s not even Jesus’s actual supposed birthday I don’t think he’ll be too annoyed.

I believe that kids should be kids but I’ve always said that I wanted to be as honest and open with mine as possible. I think I’ve accomplished that thus far; possibly a little too accomplished if you ask their opinion. I can’t tell you the number of eye rolls and do you have to’s I’ve encountered at me refreshing their memories on the fact that the pill doesn’t stop you from catching a dose and other such worldly gems, but I know that should the time come they know they can tell me anything. No matter how bad they think it is they know I’ve got them! #RealTalk.

It’s a fine balance when they’re little though. This is where the ‘Santa Clause’ comes into play! This allows you a small white lie before you eventually hit them with the cold hard truth!

As much as I like to keep it real I’m not completely heartless. At 17 and 14 my girls have known the truth about Santa for some time now but when they were young enough to believe in it all I played along….until the day they asked me if he was real or not…then I had to break it down, gently! I can’t remember exactly how old they were, still very young, but old enough to question it and I wasn’t prepared to lie to them.

My fiancé was particularly happy at this as he had always made it perfectly clear that no fictional, fat White man with flying reindeer was going to take the credit for him working hard to provide for his own. His opinion is that of a lot of Black people’s and to be perfectly honest I can’t say that I don’t understand why.

I got him to hold it down in front of the girls and bought “Santa’s” gifts myself to keep the peace but when that bubble burst it caused a chain reaction and wiped out all those glory stealing charlatans in one hit! #RIPToothFairyAndEasterBunny.

I was lucky my girls took it well. I explained that not everyone knows the truth and to not tell their friends and spoil it for them but they didn’t have to lie if someone asked them what they thought. A friend of mine was telling me about what happened when she told her girls. They had asked and she told them the truth. It then later blew up at their after school club because they told some of their friends who got upset.

When she came to collect her children the staff members were not happy and were looking at her to “fix” it but why should it be her problem to fix? If we choose to lie to our kids that’s on us, but you can’t expect a parent who decides to tell their children the truth to then lie to make things easier for you. It’s down to you to keep the magic alive or kill it dead.

Some parents simply can’t afford to keep up pretences. Little precious may have been an absolute treasure all year round and avoided the naughty list but the reality is things cost money and bills need to be paid and some folk have their priorities right and aren’t prepared to break the bank to keep up the lie – and rightly so!

To me the spirit of Christmas has been lost in a sea of materialism. When I was younger it was a great time of year and I believe it’s down to the fact that we had less but loved more. There weren’t as many distractions, no mobiles, Sky or Netflix – we had a house phone, 4 channels and Blockbuster video. No online shopping – if you wanted it you went out and got it or had been paying it off throughout the year from the Freemans catalogue.

The shops were closed and the only travelling you did was to link up with other family and appreciate quality time. Naturally time moves on and things change but despite the differences between then and now the sentiment can still remain the same.

You will inevitably celebrate it (or not) how you like, but alongside the gifts that you’ve lovingly provided for your children can I suggest you also lovingly let them know how blessed they are and how appreciative they should be to be receiving nice food and bath bombs and not real bombs like the poor children in Aleppo and other war torn countries.

R.I.P to the 71 victims of the Brazil plane crash and to all those who have lost their lives this week.

Don’t Go Crackers, Stay Blessed & #CelebrateLife